Master the four dark arts of divining content trends
Forget the crystal ball, never mind the old bones. Tim King outlines four keys to forecasting, so you can be ready for the changing times.
by Tim King
by Tim King
Contrary to popular belief, content strategy isn’t some mystical art known only to a few esoteric practitioners. No, you don’t need a ouija board, tarot cards, a crystal ball, or a bag of old bones. But you do need to have your wits about you.
Especially when you’re trying to stay ahead of the curve and innovate with your content.
So how do you even begin to approach figuring out the next big thing, where to focus your time, and how to be a true tastemaker of content?
That’s what you’re here to learn. Get ready to be that person who knows what's next and grins wide because you saw it coming from miles away.
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Speed, and why predicting content trends matters
So why bother predicting trends, you ask? Because staying ahead of the curve is what separates the leaders from the followers.
Back in the good old days, you could whip up something semi-decent, throw it on your GeoCities page (remember those relics?) and call it a night.
Today? You blink and suddenly there’s a new Google algorithm turning your hard-earned traffic into digital tumbleweeds.
Content strategies now need to evolve at the speed of a TikTok video’s lifespan. It’s no longer enough to just keep up, you need to be predicting where the ball will land, preferably before it’s even been kicked.
It’s about knowing what your audience will crave tomorrow and serving it to them, before they even knew they wanted it.
You must become a master of taste and flavour, a trendsetter, a leader, and the go-to source in your niche.
Let's get something straight from the outset — like I said in the intro, predicting content trends isn't magic reserved for the chosen few. It's both a skill and a muscle, that you can train with the right equipment and mindset.
Unleashing the beast:
trend forecasting basics
Consumers' attention is like that of a cat — they're drawn to shiny new things but also love the comfort of the familiar.
By predicting trends and weaving them seamlessly into your storytelling, you create an irresistible mix. You serve up freshness while being that reliable presence they can't get enough of.
Nailing content trends makes you more than just a business. You become their guide through the jungle of choices. This builds loyalty because you're no longer just offering products or services — you’re giving them a sneak peek into the future.
When people see you've already integrated upcoming trends, they get that 'insider' feeling. They feel special, like they're part of something cutting-edge and sophisticated.
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Your existing data is the first key
Alright, down to brass tacks.
How can you predict trends? By using hard data to dissect the present to predict the future. Easier said than done, but it’s more possible than you might first think.
This process requires a keen eye for detail and an understanding of a multitude of factors that influence trends, and looking at the big picture and identifying the subtle shifts that signal a change in direction.
Trend forecasting helps you stay ahead of shifts in consumer behaviour, a new advancement in technology, or a slight change in industry standards.
Without looking at data, you’re just doing a whole lot of guessing with your eyes closed and fingers crossed.
Your very first step
Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, you need to understand your own audience and content marketing metrics, and I mean really understand them. It’s time to pull on your detective hat and start looking at your past performance like you’re trying to solve the mystery of who stole the last doughnut in the pack.
Start with the basics. Your audience demographics, engagement rates, and page views.
- What resonated with your audience?
- What was it that they engaged with the most?
- What about the least?
- If you could do it all over again would it be the same or would you change your tactics?
Knowing exactly what your audience likes, expects, and resonates with is the beginning of being able to predict what your audience wants, how the industry is shaping their attitudes, and how content strategies from other businesses are shaping the expectations of your crowd.
Perhaps your audience loves 'how-to' articles, but only if they're on specific subjects. Maybe they’re wild for infographics but couldn’t give two hoots about longform content.
By zeroing in on your own audience trends, you can adjust your strategy to give them exactly what they want, even before they know they want it.
So take a look at your website metrics, your email and comms analytics, the numbers from your last-quarter or years sales, the results from your latest customer survey, ask your client teams what they’ve been hearing directly from your customers.
Not only will you gain a much stronger grasp on how your customers are interacting with your business, but you’ll also gain a valuable baseline that you can use in all facets of your business, not just your content strategy and marketing.
“Don’t get its outward simplicity wrong, while the interface may not look overly complex, it’s a seriously powerful tool”
Trend analysis: the secret sauce for nailing content predictions
Much like when you’re looking internally at your metrics and analytics, what you need to inform and shape your content strategy is data. But unlike your own data, external market data sometimes isn’t so easy to grab.
This is where you can learn to understand what audiences expect, what’s hot, what’s not, and where you should be spending your time building out your content strategies.
Let’s take a look at some of the best ways to seriously get your trend analysis on.
Google Trends: your new best friend
The very first thing you should be using to understand what’s currently trending is Google Trends.
Thankfully Google — in its infinite wisdom — provides us a freely available view into a largely unfiltered sample of actual search requests made via the search engine.
And search data is one of the most powerful ways to understand what people are interested in. But don’t get its outward simplicity wrong, while the interface may not look overly complex, it’s a seriously powerful tool in the right hands.
The Google Trends platform gives anyone the ability to look at the historical data of search terms over time. And not just for the past few months; some search term data goes back as far as 2004. This might seem like an aeon ago but it’s rather important, as historical term data can be compared to understand the effects of what people have been searching for over time and how they correlate.
With so much data available, this is especially powerful to help you understand seasonal topic trends as they’ve happened over the years.
Perhaps its real power lies in the Trending Now tab, which not only shows you what’s trending daily in your location, but also what’s hot, in near-real-time, for multiple categories.
Adding this to your daily routine is an easy, yet powerful, way to get started understanding what people are really interested in to help you inform your storytelling choices and your overall strategy.
Industry websites: the power of continuous information
To stay ahead, you also need a steady stream of fresh, relevant information from industry bodies and experts. This is where industry websites take their place as constant companions, feeding you the latest news, trends, and insights from across the web.
Tapping into these sources is absolutely essential as it’s a great way to filter out the noise. By selecting high-quality sources and curating your feeds, you can ensure that you’re only consuming valuable, relevant content.
This rather selective approach really helps you avoid information overload and makes it far easier to tap into the specific trend insights you need.
The more you expose yourself to different concepts, ideas, and ways of thinking, the more you’ll be able to form your own opinions on trends and gain an almost clairvoyant sense of how you can alter your own strategies.
So how do you find great sources of info for your content strategy? Don’t worry, I got you.
Below is a list of excellent places for you to start:
Most of these sites produce seriously large volumes of content, so it can be difficult to trudge through the uninteresting bits.
The saving grace here is that most of them (though not all) offer RSS feeds you can plugin to a solid feed reader like Feedly (online) or Reeder (desktop/mobile) so you can quickly filter out what’s interesting and relevant to you, and save the things you really want to read.
Online communities: an absolute goldmine
If you want to really predict future content trends, there's no better place to be than amidst other people in online communities. These virtual hangouts are buzzing with real perspectives and unfiltered conversations that you can’t ignore.
While some like Reddit and Facebook may feel like the digital equivalent of a rowdy pub, it’s also here that people tend to let their guard down to truly spill their secrets, share their opinions, and voice their own desires.
Of course, much like a pub, online communities are also rather loud and noisy places, so the real trick here is to take everything you read with a grain of salt. But tapping into communities gives you access to the raw, uncut thoughts of audiences.
But this is where you get to practise and hone one of the most valuable content strategy skills you’ll ever learn… social listening.
It isn’t just a tool to use — it’s a god damned secret weapon.
Leveraging this skill lets you monitor conversations in real time, giving you the ability to pivot and adapt your content strategy almost instantly. And by understanding what people are talking about on the ground right now, you can create content that’s timely, engaging, and most importantly, relevant.
These often hidden insights help reveal emerging trends, unmet needs, and pain points that your content can quickly address.
By understanding the nuances of online conversations, you can create content that speaks directly to their experiences and concerns, before they even know they need it.
“Pull on your detective hat and start looking at your past performance like you’re trying to solve the mystery of who stole the last doughnut”
Staying ahead of the curve
So where to from here? The simplest answer is to get started.
The sooner you start to understand your data, get involved with online communities, and start consuming industry news, the faster you’ll get to grips with anticipating potential new trends, and informing your own strategy.
With these insights and practical tips, you’ll be well-equipped to keep your content strategy fresh, relevant, and ahead of the pack.
So go ahead, predict the future, and lead the way in your industry.
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